Taunton train track murder case heads toward status hearing

Thursday

Jan 2, 2014 at 12:01 AMJan 2, 2014 at 2:04 AM

The only person so far arrested in connection with the city’s lone homicide of 2013 has a status hearing scheduled on Jan. 10.

Flavio “Sass” Daveiga, 21, formerly of 15 Newcomb Place, is being held on a total of $2 million cash bail — $1 million each for a single count of accessory before the fact of murder and witness intimidation.

Charles Winokoor

The only person so far arrested in connection with the city’s lone homicide of 2013 has a status hearing scheduled on Jan. 10.

Flavio “Sass” Daveiga, 21, formerly of 15 Newcomb Place, is being held on a total of $2 million cash bail — $1 million each for a single count of accessory before the fact of murder and witness intimidation.

Daveiga, a registered sex offender with a lengthy rap sheet including heroin and assault charges, was arrested by Taunton police two days after the body of Edwin Rivera Jr. of Cohannet Street was hit by a slow-moving CSX train near Cushman Street.

Cops initially thought Rivera, 24, died the night of Nov. 25 from being hit by the train, which severed an arm.

But a subsequent autopsy revealed two bullet holes in his body, one fired from the front and the other the rear. Both bullets traveled cleanly through the victim, cops said.

Police so far have not recovered the murder weapon.

Prosecutors allege that a dispute over drugs between Daveiga and Rivera led to Rivera being shot to death. It’s not clear whether Rivera was shot on the tracks or if he was dragged there after being shot.

A call seeking an update from the Bristol County Distirct Attorney’s Office was not immediately returned.

Daveiga was arraigned Nov. 27 in Taunton District Court by Judge Gregory Phillips, who said it was “a sin and disgrace to the community” that Daveiga had been out on bail with five open cases pending.

Phillips not only set the combined $2 million bail for the murder-related charges, he revoked bail for four of five of those open cases.

Daveiga, despite his age, has a formidable rap sheet.

He was among eight men and two women arrested in February 2013, half of whom were apprehended after police executed a search warrant for two apartments at 50 Harrison Ave. The other five were busted when cops pulled over a car that had just driven away from the house. All 10 were charged with trafficking heroin over 100 grams, conspiracy to violate the state’s controlled substance act and committing a drug violation near a school of public park.

Daveiga in July of 2013 was charged with conspiracy and possession with intent to distribute heroin after undercover detectives pulled over a car he allegedly was driving without a license.

He was also a passenger in a car pulled over in August 2012 by Taunton police, who were looking for a man who allegedly had just pistol whipped another man on High Street in broad daylight.

Daveiga, whose neck was heavily bandaged, wasn’t arrested, but police said he became animated in describing how he’d been shot in the neck the night before in Fall River.

He was tracked down and arrested by Providence cops in September 2012 after leaving a South Providence nightclub, who were contacted by their Fall River counterparts to be on the lookout for Daveiga.

Fall River police, who had listed Daveiga as a Top 10 wanted individual, said they were concerned he might seek revenge for having been shot in the neck that summer.

Daveiga also was arrested in 2012 after allegedly shoving a Taunton officer, who suffered an injured tailbone and was out of work for close to a month. After running away from the scene that day, Daveiga allegedly taunted other cops and challenged them to shoot him.

He also, in 2010, allegedly assaulted a Department of Youth Services employee at Taunton State Hospital. Daveiga at the time, according to court documents, had been on a suicide watch.

The details of his conviction leading to his status as a registered sex offender are not available in district court. If Daveiga was a minor at the time he was arrested for sexual assault, details of that case would be sealed.

Daveiga’s late brother, Rafael Daveiga, died in 2012 at the age of 22, after a vehicle he’d been driving ended up in the Taunton River after crashing through the protective barrier of the Edward McCarthy Memorial Bridge on County Street.

Rivera, who was born in Puerto Rico and graduated from Taunton High School, was arrested in 2012 in connection to an investigation by police into an alleged armed kidnapping.

An older brother, Oniel Rivera, was 22 when he turned himself in to Taunton police in 2007. Oniel Rivera subsequently pled guilty to stabbing the 20-year-old mother of his then 3-year-old son, as well as a man who had tried shielding her.

Police said the woman needed 10 stitches to close a throat wound wound and that the male victim was stabbed numerous times.

Oneil Rivera, according to Taunton District Court records, pleaded guilty to two counts of assault and battery and was given a two-and-a-half-year sentence.

Edwin Rivera, who is survived by five children, also had a younger brother, Odesys “PoPo” Rivera, who was 14 when he was killed in 2006 by a hit-and-run driver while walking with friends on Lawton Street.

Flavio Daveiga is being represnted by court-appointed attorney Martin Leppo of Brockton.